ABOUT THE BOOK

The beaches and shores are the first marine environments that many Filipinos and visitors to the Philippines first encounter. The beach is home to a large number of marine species, all of which have a very interesting ecology and life cycles. This book hopes to contribute to a new way of “seeing” the beach by examining the living things that inhabit it.

There is a connection between the beach and the coral reefs from which originate the sand that delights beachgoers, inspires the artists, and serves as habitat for species that sustain human communities. The tides are the rhythm in all these processes. This book shows us the fragility of this environment upon which our existence depends.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Benjamin Vallejo Jr. was born in 1967 and is a biogeographer. He received his BSc from the University of the Philippines Visayas in 1988 where he majored in aquaculture. He then proceeded to graduate school as a scholar in the marine sciences program with a focus on studying molluscs at the University of the Philippines Diliman. Upon receiving his master’s degree in 1993, he worked in setting up the ReefBase global coral reef databases with ICLARM (now WorldFish Centre). He received his PhD in 2004 from James Cook University in Australia where he did a thesis on the biogeography of coral reef shore gastropods. He has taught in the Ateneo de Manila before assuming his appointment in the University of the Philippines.